Response to call for information on Nutrition Labelling - Health Star Rating and Nutrition Information Panel
The George Institute welcomes this opportunity to provide information to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) about two nutrition labelling systems operating in Australia and New Zealand, the Health Star Rating (HSR) and Nutrition Information Panel (NIP). Consumer engagement with and trust in nutrition labelling is important to achieve its public health and consumer objectives, in alignment with strategic guidance for the Australian and New Zealand food regulatory system agreed by Food Ministers.
A mandatory, strengthened HSR on the front-of-pack remains the priority action for improving the interpretive value of food labels to promote public health and consumer objectives. Consumers want to see the HSR label on all eligible products, and, after more than a decade of failed voluntary uptake, mandating HSR is the most important step to support informed consumer choice and maximise public health impact. Options to strengthen the HSR system to better support consumers in following healthier diets and encourage meaningful industry reformulation are also readily available, including improvements to governance, the underlying nutrient profiling model, and visual display elements. These changes to the HSR system will be essential to maintain system performance, support consumer use, understanding and confidence in the system, address “outlier” products that receive a high score despite unhealthy content, and better ensure the system functions as a public health and consumer empowerment measure.
Australians and New Zealanders trust the NIP, and in its current form it aligns with global standards. As such, the NIP is not in need of fundamental reform. While the retention of the current NIP format on product packaging supports consumer choice and provides a transparent foundation for implementing and monitoring a range of public health and consumer policies, some gaps and concerns also remain. In particular, while dietary guidelines recommend avoiding sugars added to foods, the NIP currently does not allow consumers to identify products containing or high in added sugars. Consumers’ interests would also be best served by a simple NIP that does not include any competing and potentially conflicting, confusing and misleading interpretive information. Other changes to the presentation of the NIP, as well as the mandatory display of the NIP in any retail setting prior to purchase, would further facilitate consumer awareness and use.
